Fun Saturday with the Historic Vineyard Society

We attended the Historic Vineyard Society Tour and Dinner last night and had a great time. Thanks to Mike Dildine for making it all happen. You rock Mike!

We got to tour 4 vineyards.
Whitton Ranch - Ridge Geyserville - David Gates
Pretty ranch, planted in the early 1880’s is 60% Zinfandel 25% Carignane and the rest Alicante Bouschet, Petite Sirah, Mataro, Syrah, Grenache, Palomino and others. 11-1/2 x 4-1/2 spacing suggests that the farmer who planted it was a orchardist and planted in a way that he could plow with the same implements he used in his fruit orchards. David is a very passionate guy when it comes to the vineyards and it was a joy to listen to home talk about this historic property and their farming approach which produces wines with exceptional aging ability.
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David Gates talking about his vineyard.

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Old Carignane at Whitton Ranch

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Gnarly old thang!

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Whitton Ranch looking South East.

101 Vineyard - Turley 101 Zinfandel - Tegan Passalacqua
Larry Turley found this 2 acre vineyard through a classified ad and bought it on the spot in 1995. Age of the vineyard isn’t exactly known but the size of the vines suggests pre-prohibition. 95% Zinfandel 5% Carignane. 12 x 5 spacing similar to Whitton Ranch makes them wonder if the same farmer planted both spots. Organically dry farmed. One acre is old vines for the 101 Zinfandel and the other is newer plantings used in the Juvenile blend.
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Tegan explaining how they organically farm.

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Mike Officer listening intently.

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Wide lanes in the 101 vineyard!

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Pruned to maximize airflow and sunlight.

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101 Old Vine Zinfandel

Chianti Station Vineyard - Seghesio Sangiovese - Ned …forgot his last name, great grandson of Edoardo Seghesio
Originally part of Italian Swiss Colony. Planted in 1910 to mainly Sangiovese but mixed with some Canaiolo Nero, Malvasia and Trebbiano, dry farmed. 3 different Sangio clones each produces different sized berries, from the size of a BB to that of a pencil eraser. It’s the oldest known Sangiovese planting in the US.
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Our host Ned

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Chianti Station Vineyard

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Sangiovese

Henderlong Ranch - Nalle Henderlong Zinfandel - Doug Nalle
Planted by Andrew Nalle’s great-grandparents Fred and Ruby Henderlong in 1927 on St George rootstock and dry farmed

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Doug Nalle describing their farming practices at Henderlong Ranch

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86 year old Dry Creek Zinfandel

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Ready to bloom. Doug said bloom lasts 2 weeks with Zinfandel so good weather right now is a must.

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Oops, who slipped a ringer in here? Yes, that says Carlisle Pinot Noir.

After the tour we all gathered at Seghesio Winery and tasted some wines alongside Pete’s home made Salumi.
They poured Bedrock Ode to Lulu, Casa Santinamaria, Carlisle Derivative, Seghesio Sonoma County and Seghesio Home Ranch Zins. After that we retired to the dining room for dinner and a selection of wines from the visited vineyards as well as some more hard to find or unreleased.
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Wines in my next post.

Lucky me that Richard Jennings was in attendance so I didn’t take a single note. Just enjoyed the ride!
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2009 Turley 101 Vineyard Zinfandel, sorry about the focus.

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Super nice Zin. Very feminine.

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Missed the year on this Biale Moore Vineyard

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Sangiovese

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Back up the truck. Wow good.

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Good wine but out of place with all the youngsters being tasted along with it.

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26gpl residual sugar.

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Our hosts - Bob Biale, Tegan Passalacqua, Mike Officer, Mike Dildine, David Gates and Morgan Twain-Peterson

Great post and another great HVS event! I was the guy on the Officer van with the blue Red Rocks t-shirt on.

FYI the Biale Moore Vineyard was a 2011, great wine! There were so many great wines. The secret is to sit next to Mike Dildine, who is a great host, organizer, and also a magnet for great heritage wines. Thanks also to David Gates for being so generous, Dino, Mrs. Dino and family for being great dinner companions, and of course Larry P for great company and knowledge - great to meet you Larry!

We are already looking forward to 2014.

great pics. Nalle zinfandel rocks.

That guy!
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2014 is going to be in the Napa Valley, Moore, Hayne etc… Should be great.

Thanks for the post, Brian. Amazing day… the Nalle vineyard isn’t particularly scenic or picturesque, but those old Henderlong vines out front are gnarly and beautiful. Makes some great wine too. I love their Dry Creek Zinfandel–not quite as elegant as the Henderlong, but a unique Zinfandel and perhaps the most interesting I’ve ever had.

1. Possibly the awesomest thread ever at WineBerserkers - certainly the best pictures ever.

2. Stupid question, but do the old vines not need trellising?

Are they so stout that they can hold up their bunches of grapes without falling over?

You didn’t think so? Of all 3 I was impressed the most by the beauty of Henderlongs massive vines. The other had history but I thought Nalle gave the best photo ops.

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Any vine can be head trained. Trellising is fairly new when it comes to viticulture. Trellising produces more fruit in a uniform position on the vine. If you ask Doug Nalle he thinks trellising is not a way to produce good Zinfandel fruit but lots of mediocre fruit. Trellised vines are irrigated and the roots do not go deep into the soil due the the water being fed on top. Dry farmed vines grow slower but produce more robust fruit.

Brian,
Aren’t those drip irrigation lines there on WhittenRanch??
Tom

Tom - I’m not Brian, but Dave said that they might give Whitten Ranch a drink in the driest of times - for example, they anticipate having to do so this year due to the unprecedented drought. Doug Nalle and Teegan said they still had to dump a five gallon bucket under the dry farmed vines from time to time.

But it seems like up until the trunk of the vine became sufficiently stout [20 yrs? 30 yrs? 40 yrs?], the vine would buckle and fall over from the weight of the fruit.

Without trellises, it would be like trying to grow tomatoes without stakes.

Which you can do, but the tomatoes just end up lying on the ground [and rotting, or getting eaten by various insects and turtles and rabbits and whatnot].

The replants at all the various sites indicated that it is common practice to use stakes for the first several years. There isn’t any photo evidence above because, well, replants aren’t very photogenic

Fertigation. They are only used to water in extreme situations like 110 degrees or more in order to protect the vines.

Vineyard 101 replants can be seen in the photo of Mike O.

Great posts! What an awesome experience both educational in the vineyard and pleasurful with the wines. Reading about events like this is why enjoy wine berserkers

One can have vines on a trellis and still dry farm. The comment about dry farmed vines growing slower may be true in California but not necessarily true for all climates.

Getting back to the photos, though - these ancient plants are simply gorgeous.

Sitting upright, on their own, without any trellising, they look more like “grape trees” than grape vines [as we usually envision vines to look].

Like a medium-sized grape “banzai” tree.

Does anyone work with Vitis vinifera and banzai?

It’s as though they should be in pots for sale in a florist’s shop.

They are indeed something to behold. Dave pointed out the hollowing of the base of the rootstock as they age, which he said is one of the main reasons for replant beyond straight misses. Similar to a very young vine, he said it doesn’t take much for them to topple over on their own weight, or when brushed by a tractor.

http://www.google.com/search?q=grape+bonsai&hl=en&gbv=2&prmd=ivns&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=xheRUZSlLIHq8wTjkIF4&ved=0CBkQsxg

See the first four or five at the link. However, its real easy to make them yourself if you have access to vines. I have 5 that I have started earlier this year when I was doing late season prunning.